AN EXPLORATION OF QUANTITATIVE MEASUREMENT AND QUALITATIVE EXPERIENCES AND UNDERSTANDING OF LONELINESS IN CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE

  • Aimee Cole

Student thesis: Doctor of Educational and Child Psychology

Abstract

Loneliness in childhood is particularly relevant in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, and subsequent school closures, reductions in social contact, and increased social isolation. Increased understanding in the conceptualisation of loneliness and the experience across the lifespan, indicate a need for a review of the reliability and validity of loneliness scales, and greater understanding of childhood loneliness directly. A systematic literature review (SLR) sought to investigate the robustness of development procedures in the three most used loneliness measures with youth. Subsequent studies exploring psychometric properties of these scales, published between 1978 and 2019, were identified using a PRISMA framework and an additional bespoke framework was used to explore subsequent reliability and validity with youth. With the absence of child view in development procedures of each measure, interviews with primary aged children were carried out to explore their experiences and understanding of loneliness first-hand. The SLR identified key stages of measure development absent in the generation of each loneliness measure. Subsequent papers demonstrating psychometric properties with youth, highlighted inconsistent item and response categories, reliability and validity. The qualitative exploration of child views highlighted that childhood experiences align somewhat with the existing literature, whilst key themes relating to solutions and play are absent. Implications for future practice are discussed, including the need for further review of loneliness measurement in youth, and exploration of child views. Implications for practitioners, intervention, and researchers are discussed. A dissemination strategy to increase the impact of this research is outlined, considering central stakeholders.
Date of Award31 Dec 2021
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • The University of Manchester
SupervisorKevin Woods (Supervisor) & Caroline Bond (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Reliability
  • Understanding
  • Experiences
  • Qualitative
  • Validity
  • Quantitative
  • Adolescence
  • Childhood
  • Loneliness
  • Measurement

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